By Supriya Bharadwaj/India Today
Behind the close doors of 12 Tuglak Lane, newly appointed Congress President Rahul Gandhi is busy charting out the strategy for his next battleground in Karnataka.
Apart from doing SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analysis of ground situation in Karnataka, Gandhi scion has pumped in all of party’s resources in the poll-bound state.
In the last 48 hours, many senior leaders and workers from across the country are heading to the Karnataka. Congress General Secretary in-charge KC Venugopal was the first to leave and hit the ground running.
Post Gujarat, the churning was on as to why Congress lost the battle. According to sources, one of the main reasons was failure of booth management.
To protect its bastion in south, Congress has raised an army of around 8 lakh booth-level workers in Karnataka.
“From last six months we have been working in a ‘Mission Mode’ at each constituency level in Karnataka. We have formed 98% of booth level Committees in Karnataka. There are total 54,200 booth committees out of which we have formed 53,000 committees. There are 15 members each in each committee. We have roped in around 7 lakh 95 thousand people in Karnataka,” Congress General Secretary incharge Karnataka KC Venugopal told India Today.
Apart from holding meetings with local leaders and booth level workers, Venugopal is also preparing an initial sketch for Gandhi’s campaign.
“We have already requested Rahulji to campaign extensively in Karnataka too. We are keen that he comes and blow party’s poll campaign bugle after January 20,” added Venugopal.
Shashi Tharoor’s Role
Meanwhile, Congress MP Dr Shashi Tharoor also landed in Karnataka to hold public meetings. However, the chairman of All India Professional Congress Tharoor is reaching out to professionals in Karnataka besides holding public rallies.
“In Karnataka, I have a dual role. Apart from doing campaign to reach out to professionals who are keen to work with us. We are reaching out to not just professionals, who want to join us politically. But even those professionals who just want to give ideas and don’t want to get politically involved. They are also being welcomed,” he said.
Communication
Armed with orders to put the state communication department on track, Congress Communication Department Convener Priyanka Chaturvedi is going to set her base camp in Bengaluru. “Communication is an important tool for reaching out to our voters and at the same time also to counter opposition lies. The idea is to revamp the communication team and also identify voices that will strengthen the party on various communication platforms,” said Chaturvedi.
Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and former Union Minister Dr Veerapa Moily have left for their constituencies in Karnataka.
Congress, according to sources, will be keen to build up an aggressive campaign in the state. For this, all roads now lead to its southern bastion.
(The featured image at the top shows Congress President Rahul Gandhi inaugurating Indira canteens in Bengaluru)
